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Spain Part 49 – Fallas; La Planta
Mar. 15th, 2008 04:27 pmWe’d been waiting for fallas since the beginning of the semester, and it had finally arrived.
Alicia and I headed out after la cena on Saturday to meet Ryan and Amanda at the Torres de Serrano, which was near the falla that Ryan had helped with as his Práctica. We had some time to kill when we first got there before the Planta was to begin so we started by watching the concert that was happening down in the Rio one of the puentes (bridges) right above it. It was a type of electronic music, and it was hard to see much of what was happening on stage because of all the lights, but it was enjoyable all the same.
Amanda finally arrived to meet us and we shopped around the outdoor market for awhile. There were the usual jewelry vendors and odds and ends, but some of the things that I noticed that were kind of special were the soap stands, where they had a bunch of different smelling soaps, an herb and tea stand that smelled even more delicious than the soap stand, and a stand that sold mini books and bookshelves.
It was almost time for la Planta, so we headed over to where Ryan’s taller was and took some pictures of them putting the falla up.
Amanda’s favorite part of the falla was this dog, which she wasn’t allowed to actually pet, but pretended to anyway.
After that we wandered around looking at different fallas that were coming to life. We got a good look at Na Jordana for the first time, which is one of the fallas that is almost always in the running for the grand prize. It’s a very environmentalist falla, and it almost always criticizes the treatment of the toros (bulls) in Spanish culture. It also usually has something to do with the criticism of the farm lifestyle that Europe works so hard to preserve, trying to make the point that not all of the rural culture is important, especially when it includes mistreating animals and/or using it as an excuse to follow old traditions like arranged marriages and such when it takes the rights away from women.
One of the more blatantly political parts of the falla was a “carnival game” on the side (not a real game, just part of the falla) with pictures of the previous candidates for president of Spain (the elections were just last week) with their mouths open. On the table in front of them were pieces of poop (again, not real, just part of the falla) with signs stuck into them so that they represented different issues such as the economy, foreign relations, and so on.
It was almost time for the castillos (firework shows) to start by that time so we hurried back to our casa (all four of us) and went up to the roof where we could see the castillos. The first one, one of the closest, began at 1,00 but there were a TON of them and we watched quite a few (sometimes several at once) until it got very late (about 4,00) and very chilly outside, and we decided that it was time for bed.
Alicia and I headed out after la cena on Saturday to meet Ryan and Amanda at the Torres de Serrano, which was near the falla that Ryan had helped with as his Práctica. We had some time to kill when we first got there before the Planta was to begin so we started by watching the concert that was happening down in the Rio one of the puentes (bridges) right above it. It was a type of electronic music, and it was hard to see much of what was happening on stage because of all the lights, but it was enjoyable all the same.
Amanda finally arrived to meet us and we shopped around the outdoor market for awhile. There were the usual jewelry vendors and odds and ends, but some of the things that I noticed that were kind of special were the soap stands, where they had a bunch of different smelling soaps, an herb and tea stand that smelled even more delicious than the soap stand, and a stand that sold mini books and bookshelves.
It was almost time for la Planta, so we headed over to where Ryan’s taller was and took some pictures of them putting the falla up.
Amanda’s favorite part of the falla was this dog, which she wasn’t allowed to actually pet, but pretended to anyway.
After that we wandered around looking at different fallas that were coming to life. We got a good look at Na Jordana for the first time, which is one of the fallas that is almost always in the running for the grand prize. It’s a very environmentalist falla, and it almost always criticizes the treatment of the toros (bulls) in Spanish culture. It also usually has something to do with the criticism of the farm lifestyle that Europe works so hard to preserve, trying to make the point that not all of the rural culture is important, especially when it includes mistreating animals and/or using it as an excuse to follow old traditions like arranged marriages and such when it takes the rights away from women.
One of the more blatantly political parts of the falla was a “carnival game” on the side (not a real game, just part of the falla) with pictures of the previous candidates for president of Spain (the elections were just last week) with their mouths open. On the table in front of them were pieces of poop (again, not real, just part of the falla) with signs stuck into them so that they represented different issues such as the economy, foreign relations, and so on.
It was almost time for the castillos (firework shows) to start by that time so we hurried back to our casa (all four of us) and went up to the roof where we could see the castillos. The first one, one of the closest, began at 1,00 but there were a TON of them and we watched quite a few (sometimes several at once) until it got very late (about 4,00) and very chilly outside, and we decided that it was time for bed.
